Cost Effecitive

[Mopar Man1]

If all things go right I will be getting a *ah hum* certain truck for a certain felllow from a certain website. :-laf It's got a gasser,4spd in it. This is all up in the air right now but I'm tossing around my ideas for later on. Thought about after I got it to start looking heavily into a p-pumped motor with either a 5600 or 4500 backing it. Do it all right,studs instead of bolts in head,head gasket,plate,turbos and all that good junk. Back to trans with Southbend clutch,weld fifth gear nut and all that jazz. Thing is I'm wondering if it would be cost effective to do this. OK it's the crew cab that Sam has Oo. It would be my daily driver,towing a trailer probably once every two weeks. Thing it will be towing though would be one hellva trailer. Looking into probably a 35-40ft gooseneck or fifth wheel trailer(which ever is the longest DOT will let you tow without CDLs) with two fullsize four wheel drive trucks. Both would be loaded to the gills with heavy "go to the woods and come back in one piece" parts :-laf Plus camping gear and that jazz. I was wondering what yall would think would be a ballpark figure price for a good P-pumped motor backed with 4500 trans. Would it be cost effective to put the motor in the truck? I know it would help a little on gas mileage but would be heavier and harder on frontend/driveline parts. Just ideas floating in this little bitty brain that I can't truly answer myself

 

[bgilbert]

What happened to the tow rig you have now?

 

[bgilbert]

Oh you want something like this to pull two 4wd's huh? Michael, tell the kid what these old trucks are capable of ...

 

[Headshot zod]

what's with the "trailer queens"?

 

[MMiller]

Ain't no trailer queens at my house! I just haul 'em cause I don't like walking, or fixing trucks in the middle of no where. They are both street worthy and see street use. but when the gasser gets hooked to the sled or either of the trucks get put in the mud, broken parts eventually are inevitable. Besides it's nicer to come home in an A/C equipped truck with a nice radio, after a long hot summer day at a truck pull in the midwest.



The setup that Bill put up(thanks man, I enjoy when people use that pic) is my 32' gooseneck with a pair or 10,000# axels. AS you can see two longbeds are very tight. A long bed and a short bed fit great. Now as far as the load pictured its two full size trucks, one diesel, one 440, and both have 1 ton diffs. Plus the old truck had a dana 61F and a 71R plus several dually rims and tires, plus a 727/205 in the bed. Under the diesel is 1000# of suitcase weights. It was a load. You can see in my sig what the 93 has for tweaks. Now I do not live in the mountains, but here in the midwest I set the cruise at 72 mph on the interstate in OD and run with the semis. With that load I run 4th gear about58-60 mph and have no pyro problems. If you think its flat in Iowa you are sadly mistaken.



Anyways, just find a first gen and the drive train will bolt up in the crew. You don't need a P-pump(if thats what somebody has told you). And if you are going to keep it 2wd with stock size tires a getrag will work IMHO. My brothers NV4500-p pumped truck will not run with mine yet, and the NV4500 has been apart 4 times for the nut. My getrag has at least 155,000 miles on it. It makes noise, and it has been abused but it is working fine to date. A first gen drive train is a slam dunk-if you get a p-pump truck then you don't get the motor mounts, radiator, aftercooler, grill, etc. Oh yeah, my VE currently has 70,000 miles on the rebuild.



IMHO with the short tires a 3. 55 gear is the way to go. 4. 10's seem very short to me for interstate speeds. And if you are running two lanes then you can still run 55-60 in 4th with 3. 55's.



I guess when I can run with 500 hp semis down the interstate, hang with them up the hills(cruise on, in OD) with my little v/e, getrag, 3. 55 truck, at 25-28,000#, it tows pretty good.



If you get the cummins with a 3. 55 gear in that truck I think with the manual that 20 mpg would be pretty easy to get, specially if you leave it 2wd.



I think it would be more cost effective to find a first gen that is rolled, or the body is ready to rot off it, that is complete. JMHO



Good luck

Michael

 

[Mopar Man1]

Thanks a ton Michael! Reason I'm looking at Sam's crew is I need more people room and a bed that has side on it. I have no problems with a gasser(know more about them) but if she don't like it when we throw a trailer and two trail rigs on her back then we just can't have that ;D Reason I'll be towing everything is because the way I drive in the woods,I don't like the odds. I'm not a fan of driving a pair of cowboy boots to the local parts house to get parts to fix my rig so I can drive home.

 

[MMiller]

I understand where you are coming from Mopar Man. I wish I could get my wife to go for the idea of building a crew cab, with diesel power. She'd rather have a new one that we can't afford. :-{}



Good luck with your hopeful project.



Michael

 

[Mopar Man1]

O! Posts: 666 thats not cool. Ya I thought about waiting a while and buying a newer 3500 but then started looking at the prices and said,you know I think I can build my own a lot cheaper Now we just need to talk Sam into throwing in a motor and trans for the swap and we'd be in business haha



Jimbo

 

[MMiller]

Thanks for pointing out the 666. I think I fixed that now.



Sam did ya hear that? Heck just as well install it too



Michael